Monday, November 16, 2009

Adlerweg Modules

I realize that I never bothered to upload the images of the modules discussed in this (early) morning's post. Sorry about that folks...it was a pretty busy day.

Here you go (cover art by Pete Young):

Am I the only one that finds it cool that the magical gloves (The Sentinel and The Gauntlet) are NOT featured prominently in the cover art? Nothing given away about the adventure...for all the players know they're on a fairly standard humanoid hunt. That's hip.

But, of course, what I think is very cool (as I said earlier) is the art itself. These small images don't really do justice to Mr. Young's composition. The hag is weaving some sort of spell (there are these little "sparklies" between her hands) and that's what is giving off the emanating glow that illuminates the scene, even as the dual wielding warrior recoils. The rocks are also cool.

In the Gauntlet illo the ashy clouds give an excellent counterpoint to the ashy countenances of the humanoids. The hell hounds are proportional to the fire giant , but the hobgoblins aren't. Still they just look so damn monstrous...all the interior illustrations of humanoids do. They are so hideous and obviously evil, that there's is absolutely no guilt felt in putting such creatures to the sword...no moral dilemma with looting these Tolkien nightmares.

I also like the brass horns the hobs are carrying...it's a nice touch (and shows the artist paid attention to the writing)...though I do wish one or two were being sounded by the hobgoblins.

All right that's enough for now. I've got some good stuff I'm working on for later, but right now there's a square dancing event I need to get to.

2 comments:

I love these modules (and the UK series in general), but Young's art always left me somewhat cold.

UK4 ("When A Star Falls") is the best AD&D module ever produced (in my opinion). It is easy to use after UK2-3, even though it has no 'story connection' to the earlier modules. I'd snap it up if you ever get a chance!

I was never a huge fan of UK1 (I've owned it for quite a few years and have only ever run it once), but Uk2 and3 are pretty darn cool.

Young's interior artwork feels a little sub-par to me (I'm not a fan of Cobb's work in the early White Wolf stuff either and Young's feels even more like Hanna Barbara on LSD), but I REALLY like the color cover art...to me, it really does feel like something from a child's book of faery tales!